a beer blog about portland, oregon and all the wonderful craft beer in our fair city. we're craft beer ambassadors & beer geek enthusiasts; we meet up over tasty beers. some of us homebrew, a few of us are pro brewers, some of us are hobbyists, and some are firmly entrenched in the portland craft beer scene!

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Friday, October 19, 2012

Upcoming News From Block 15

Upcoming news from one of our favorite breweries Block 15 out of Corvallis. Not all of it good though. From the blog.

November 17th Bottle Release UpdateFiggy Pudding Bottles"Unfortunately, we will not be bottling Figgy Pudding this year. In August we sampled from the brandy barrels and felt they were all maturing well. Upon final selection last week we found that 40% of the barrels did not meet our quality standards for blending. We want to make sure the beer we release in bottles is up to our standards set by the brewery and expectations of our customers. Wood barrels are a living part of our beer production and sometimes do not perform to our expectations. This has been a hard decision to reach but we feel it is best for our brewery and customers.DraughtThe other 60% tastes great and we blended those to serve on draught at our pub. Figgy Pudding should be on draught at the pub November 17th. We will allow growler sales, both 64 & 32oz, before Thanksgiving as we know many of our customers enjoy Figgy Pudding for holiday celebrations."

I'm certain this was a tough call to make, but kudos to Block 15 for making what was probably the right decision, and upholding a respected standard.

Also announced is the release of the first Kriek from the brewery. I for one am very excited to try this offering, as I am certain many others are as well. Hopefully some of this will make it to PDX for those who can't make the trip south.

Kriek, A Three Summers Cuvee

"We are excited to offer our first kriek in bottles and on draught. The Kriek is a blend of our Oud Bruin, Enchanted, that is matured in bourbon barrels with locally grown cherries. The blend is a selection of barrels from 2010, 2011, and 2012. By blending young and old we balanced the lactic and acetic acidity of the beer and captured wonderful cherry notes, both mature and fresh. The bourbon barrels used were first and second run barrels enabling us to control the bourbon character. The kriek highlights complex notes of cherry, pits, caramel, tobacco, and wood with a wonderfully tart finish. Originally we planned on bottling only 50 cases of 375’s but have increased the amount to 70."

Hellion, Belgian Golden Strong"We are going to release 20 cases of Hellion from our Cellar Stash. Hellion was brewed last February for the 2012 Cheers to Belgian Beers using Franco-Belgian Canadian yeast, pilsner malts, & Nelson Sauvin, Simcoe and Chinook hops. Hellion has matured wonderfully with big citrus notes, crisp but full malt body, and a deceptively smooth finish. Hellion is a fantastic beer for your holiday celebrations."

Last and not least is the announcement of a release date for Pappy's Dark. Certainly one of my favorite offerings!

Both Pappy’s Dark and Super Nebula are maturing in 20 year Pappy Van Winkle Barrels. We plan to release bottles of both Saturday February 2nd.